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4 Comments to “Community Poll”

• James
  April 23, 2009 7:34 am

  How well a company solves problems and communicates when they have server issues or are fixing your account are far more important to me than whether they use unreliable wind or solar power.

• Minnesota Attorney
  April 23, 2009 8:29 pm

  It’s tough because many companies say they are “green,” but what does that really mean? Are there standards required for companies in order to call themselves “green?” If a company has recycle bins, is that single act sufficient to call themselves “green?”

• Marc
  April 26, 2009 4:20 pm

  Define “green” first. The term is completely undefined, and is thus overused by companies who, in my opinion, have no business using it. But they can, because there’s no real definition of the term. A company claiming to be “green” therefore has no bearing on my purchasing decision unless they provide a detailed analysis of WHY they think they can make that claim. Most of the time it’s just marketing folks trying to mislead me anyway.

  @James: wind and solar are just one part of a comprehensive alternative energy (ie: “green”) solution. Such a solution can be very reliable if done right – just like anything else. By only looking at one part of the solution and claiming it is “unreliable”, you do yourself and others a great disfavour, as I assume that is what stops you from actually looking at the whole, reliable solution.

• Sophia
  April 27, 2009 10:46 am

  I agree with the first part of your statement – how well a company solves problems and communicates when there is an issue (relevant communication that indicates the support person actually read your email and investigated your account before replying…) is the utmost priority.
  But on the second part – solar and wind are not unreliable. Both can be sized corrctlyand predicted using existing weather data and stored to provide even and ongoing sources of power. This is from someone who co-founded a solar energy non-profit. Photovoltaic in particular is very low maintenance, no moving parts, nothing to break down, lasts for decades. And avoiding the huge and unfortunately very well established consequences of global warming is a huge priority as well. Whatever any of us can do toward that is vitally important and I will make purchase decisions accordingly – buy local to avoid transportation emissions, and buy green. Beyond that I will buy from local companies to support local jobs and economies. It’s just common sense.